N e w s B r i e f s
Kathy Parker, ’77MN
Searching
for answers
Nursing faculty expand their research agenda
Easing patients’
symptoms has always been an important part of nursing, but the best way
to do so can be a matter of opinion. School of Nursing faculty aim to
settle such questions with several new research projects. Among them is
a three-year, $692,488 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research
(NINR) to establish the Center for the Study of Symptoms, Symptom Interactions,
and Health Outcomes.
“This center will provide the funding needed to help develop our
research infrastructure. The grant will also fund pilot studies to expand
and extend ongoing work or help investigators start new studies,”
says Associate Professor Kathy Parker (pictured left), director of the
center. “During our first year, the center will fund studies looking
at the interaction between pain and sleep. Pain can disrupt sleep, and
lack of sleep can make pain worse.”
As part of this effort, postdoctoral fellow Linda Alley will study cancer
patients, Associate Professor Laura Kimball will study cardiac patients,
and Associate Professor Elizabeth Capezuti will examine pain and sleep
among nursing home patients.
Thanks to a two-year, $331,000 grant from The Robert W. Woodruff Health
Sciences Center Fund, Inc., a Center for Public Health and Behavioral
Nursing Research has been established, led by Associate Professor Annette
Frauman and Professor Colleen DiIorio, who holds a joint appointment in
public health and nursing. The center will fund pre- and postdoctoral
fellowships and visiting scholars and provide seed money for pilot studies.
As Frauman and DiIorio explain, the center will foster collaboration in
areas where nursing and public health overlap.
“Public health nursing research focuses on the health of populations
and on the practice and system changes required to foster improvement
in health and health care,” state the investigators in their proposal.
“Behavioral nursing research focuses on understanding behaviors that
support health and evaluating interventions that promote such behaviors.”
Associate Professor Peggy Moloney received a two-year, $100,000 Academic
Research Enhancement Award from the NINR to conduct a pilot study of migraines
among perimenopausal women ages 40 to 55. “The purpose is to understand
women’s experience with migraines and find out what kinds of self-treatment
they are using,” says Moloney. “We’d like to know what
works and what doesn’t work.”
Interviewers will ask the women open-ended questions about their migraines,
and data will be collected via Internet questionnaire. Internet chat groups
with other women migraine sufferers will be offered as well.
“The study is designed to involve students in research, so I will
train some nursing undergraduates in how to help women negotiate the computer
portion of the study,” adds Moloney.
In another two-year study, Assistant Professor Patricia Clark received
$99,815 from the Alzheimer’s Association for “Dementia Symptom
Recognition and Outcomes in African-American Caregiving Families.”
Clark’s co-investigator is Professor Nancy Kutner from the School
of Medicine. Previous research has shown that Alzheimer’s is often
diagnosed at more advanced stages among African Americans. Clark and Kutner
want to understand why this happens so that families will seek earlier
treatment for loved ones with the disease.—VG
Judith Lupo Wold, 81MN
Coming
home
Wold returns to
Emory as a visiting scholar
Judith Lupo Wold,
81MN, is happy to be at Emory once again.
Twenty years ago, Wold completed her master’s degree in family and
community nursing and went on to a successful career at Georgia State
University (GSU), where she earned a PhD in higher education administration
and eventually directed its nursing school. Although Wold has stepped
down from that role, she remains on the GSU nursing faculty and will spend
this academic year as a visiting scholar at Emory. Upon arriving in late
August, she plunged in to assist with preparations for the School of Nursing’s
first global nursing partnerships conference in October.
Wold has a longtime interest in international nursing, primarily through
her involvement with the Atlanta–Tbilisi Partnership, funded initially
by the American International Health Alliance. Since 1992, the partnership
has led to several projects to improve health care delivery, information,
and education in the Newly Independent State of Georgia. It was only natural
for Wold to become involved through GSU, which is an Atlanta–Tbilisi
partner along with Emory’s schools of medicine and public health,
Georgia Tech, Grady Hospital, and Morehouse School of Medicine. Encouraged
by a nursing colleague at Grady, Wold joined the effort in 1993 to help
reform nursing education and raise the professional level of nursing in
Georgia. Accomplishments to date include establishment of the Georgian
Nursing Association and a chief nurse’s office in the Ministry of
Health. Plans are under way to open a nursing school at Tbilisi State
University as well.
Partnerships such as these are meant to last. Georgia’s chief nursing
officer and the director of its national nursing association have visited
Atlanta several times. And Wold looks forward to seeing them again at
the global nursing partnerships conference, hosted by the Lillian Carter
Center for International Nursing.
“It’s an interesting learning process and very exciting,”
says Wold of the upcoming meeting. “It’s history-making for
nursing.”
To learn more about the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing,
visit the website at www.nursing.emory.edu.
Nancy Hallovan
Halloran directs admissions and student services
If there was ever a perfect job for Nancy Halloran, the School of Nursing just created it. Halloran is the new director of admissions and student services, a position that previously was two jobs—until the school discovered her. With more than 10 years of experience in college admissions, counseling centers, and academic advising, and a newly earned PhD in counseling with a cognate in student affairs, Halloran inspired the school to combine both roles, which it had considered doing for the right person.
Although admissions and student affairs are still separate departments, Halloran sees them as being connected and is striving to create a stronger link between the two. “I want everyone to see the bigger picture in terms of how admissions and student services complement each other,” she explains. “By doing this, we will not only attract stronger applicants but create a smoother transition to becoming a student and keep our students happier and more involved while they are here.”
Ultimately, what drives Halloran is the opportunity to serve students and help keep them become engaged, academically and personally. “All of our higher education research shows that enhancing student interaction with faculty, along with developing social ties to the university, have a tremendous impact on student retention and perceived happiness,” she says. That’s why she will devote a lot of energy to enhancing extracurricular activities that involve the school more in the Emory community and strengthen connections between students and faculty.
Along with an extensive history of working in the academic world, Halloran is an accomplished painter. Her undergraduate degree is in art history and studio art, and despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to put her paint brush, palette, and talented eye to use. She definitely sees a link between her position at the nursing school and her passion for creating art.
“When I’ve done a good job in admissions or student services, I often don’t realize how much I’ve helped someone out,” she says. “When I paint, I never know how my painting will affect someone. Reaching out to people, however I can, is what’s important to me.”—MH
